09.30.06

Whether or not anyone in Boston’s front office feels vindicated reading the sad news below, I cannot say. Nor can I tell you how successful Omar Minaya’s recruitment of other free agents might’ve been had the Mets not brought Pedro Martinez into the fold. Without questioning Pedro’s tenacity one iota, it is only natural to wonder if we’ve not seen the end of his tenure as a frontline starter. From MLB.com’s Marty Noble.

The New York Mets announced Saturday that Martinez has a tear in the rotator cuff of his right shoulder and will require surgery to repair it. The prognosis is that he could be pitching again in eight months, meaning he is lost to the Mets until after the All-Star break next season.

The club received word of the injury Thursday but withheld public announcement until Saturday to afford Martinez time to decide whether he wanted to undergo surgery or rehab his latest maladay.

Martinez had said publicly that all his physical problems — the large toe on his right foot, his right hip, his right calf and his left calf — were below the waist. He gave no public indication of trouble with his arm. However, after learning of the rotator cuff tear, he told the Mets that he felt sensations that were new and unusal in his arm while pitching Wednesday night in Atlanta.

Observers, including former Pirates manager Chuck Tanner, had noticed almost immediately that Martinez had dropped his arm slot during his first start since returning.

Martinez barely completed the second year of a four-year, $53 million contract he signed in Decemeber 2004.

Steve Trachsel, scheduled to pitch the Mets’ season finale against the Nationals — Frank Robinson’s final game as DC skipper — has gone home to San Diego for “personal reasons” according to SNY’s Gary Cohen.